Old customs, new shores
This year's Annual General Meeting of the Account Planning Group Switzerland (APGS) took place in Zurich. Gordon Nemitz von Wirz is the new President. He succeeds Ester Elices.
As always at the end of November, the strategy community of the Swiss communications industry jostled for the last free seats at this year's APGS Annual General Meeting. This time at the Santo restaurant in Zurich. The annual accounts, changes to the board, introduction of new members, review, outlook and an amusing table talk with Johan Olzon of the production collective Soeder formed the framework. The outlook and the planned repositioning of the Account Planning Group Switzerland made people sit up and take notice. Much will be new.
Gordon Nemitz, new President of the APGS
"In the new year, we want to focus on our most important activities and enter into new collaborations," announces Gordon Nemitz, newly elected President of the APGS and Executive Strategy Director at Wirz, "not only do we have a great program planned, but we are also making the APGS more agile and accessible to new members from other, related industries."
Hello, good bye: The new and the old on the APGS Board of Directors
The long-standing President, Ester Elices, who stepped down after 5 years of great commitment, was given a hearty round of applause. Gordon Nemitz was unanimously elected as the new President. Marco Casile, who had been a member of the APGS Board for many years, also stood down. Romana Weber, Strategic Planner at Jung von Matt/Limmat, has replaced him on the Board. Michael Selz, Director Insight & Strategy at OMD Switzerland, is also joining the APGS Board team.
New members most welcome
In fact, the number of APGS members has never been as high as it is this year. 78 strategists have signed up for membership so far, with 3 new ones joining this year. Nevertheless, the APGS wants to open up even further. Personalities from related, strategically oriented disciplines in the creative industries are now also welcome. At the same time, the APGS is to be rejuvenated. In order to lower the hurdle for new members up to the age of 31, their membership fee will in future only be half of what it was previously, i.e. CHF 250. Media professional Oliver Schönfeld is now supporting the APGS admissions committee.
Less is more: the 2017 program
Highlights in recent years have included the launch of the Ad School in 2016. In addition, there are the how-to events for know-how transfer, the Beer Cases for an informal exchange of experiences and, of course, the Strategy Slam, the strategy competition in the DACH region. While the Strategy Slam 2016 was very well attended, other APGS activities suffered from a lack of participants. The APGS therefore wants to streamline its offering, further improve its quality and bring it closer to the wishes of its members.
In future, the late-night Beer Cases will be relaunched as early-morning Coffee Cases. The strategy get-together in a Zurich pub will also be relaunched. In addition, the list of exciting speakers for the new year is already long: Bakel Walden from SRG, Johannes Eisenhut from the X-27 association, Stefan Pabst from W.I.R.E., brain researcher Hennric Jokeit, trend analyst Mirjam Hausser and campaigner Jan Schlink from WWF will ensure an exciting program. Collaborations with the ADC and other organizations, for example, are to be strengthened. And the Ad School will also be looking for students again.
